pomanders

There were many things I never knew existed before planning this wedding, that seem to be every day vocab these days. Por ejemplo:

Chivari chairs. These things are highly coveted and go for about $8 a piece to rent. They are very fashionable and probably transform a room beautifully. I, however, will be using the freebies our venue is supplying.

Gocco. Pronounced go-co. This is a screen printer that many brides decide to use to print their invites. It is not cheap and is actually discontinued in the US. The only way to get one of these babies is on ebay, etsy or if you are traveling in Japan. Apparently they are big there.

the machine---

Miss Penguin of the Weddingbee's Gocco'd invitations---

Pomanders. Who else but MS would come up with this idea to make a tissue paper flower so beautiful? First she changed the tissue paper flower from being an elementary school project, to being a beautiful accent that you would be proud to display at a classy event.

But do you think Martha stopped there? Of course not. She took these precious little flowers and made them into a pomander. I wasn't so sure I wanted to have these at my wedding though. They would be great at a wedding shower, baby shower or decorating a present, but I wasn't so sure if they would be nice enough at a wedding....

...and then I saw VintageGlam's knot bio. Here she is...

...and here are her pomanders. Beautiful, right?

(VintageGlam's photo's by Jessica Johnston)

I figured since she executed the look of this tissue paper pomander, I should give it a shot also.

I bought the MS tissue paper flower kit a while ago, so I know the key to a beautiful flower is to zig zag the edges. Of course, the kit has perfectly symmetrical zig zags that result in a perfectly domed flower. for the pomander, I didn't think it would really matter if it was perfectly domed though, so I free handed a zig zag.

Then I accordion folded it like a normal tissue paper flower, tied it off with some floral wire and separated. (The quality of the this picture is horrible)

When I was done, I just stabbed them into the styrofoam ball. I tried to get them as close together so it would look really full.

And the finished product...Ta-Da!

(again, please excuse the horrible pic quality...)

The cost of this pomander:

Styrofoam ball - $2.25

Tissue Paper - $.03 cents per flower. ($1 per pack. I used 2 packs, which made 40 flowers.)

Floral wire - $2.50 for a ton of wire.

Time - Probably a total of 2 hours? I made the flowers while I watched TV and recruited Jon to fold paper.

I realized I got 2 different color green tissue paper after I left the store, so your eyes are not doing tricks on you. This pomander is in fact two-toned. It also is not the color green I am going for. I found a great apple green color that I think will look much softer and more in keeping with the colors we have going on. I was thinking of decorating the pews at church with them ala VintageGlam. The ceremony is only going to be about 25 mins though and I can't think of any purpose or place for them at the reception. So are they worth the time and energy to make? Kind of leaning towards no...but they sure are cute. We'll see.

attack of the spyware

We have a virus...a computer virus that is. Not sure what to do about it yet because we have both tried to manually get rid of it with no luck yet. We are thinking we are going to have to do a full restore. bleh. I haven't been able to do much wedding stuff (blogging, designing things, buying things online, etc) since this happened obviously and I'm not sure if it is a good or bad thing. I was going on wedding overload for a while there, so maybe a short break will be good for the mental health.

I have so many things to discuss also. Cake tasting, centerpiece options, tissue paper pomanders...but without being able to upload pics, those posts would be a little lackluster. I promise you though...they will come friends, they will come.

ehhh, flowers

I am so bothered by the idea of spending money on flowers. Yes, I understand they add a little something extra to make your pictures look gorg.

Exhibit A:

John Unrue Photography, Botanica Florist

Cassie Redstone Photography, Laura Cinotta Flowers

And, what else are you supposed to do with your hands when you are walking down the aisle? It would look weird if she wasn't holding those flowers, no?

Silver Fox Photography

and the tables...they would look amazing with a luscious centerpiece for each table.

Mary Ellen Bartley Photography, Seaport Flowers

But, do guys really enjoy wearing boutenniers? Wouldn't they look just as dressed up without one?

And how about those corsages you give to your mom, your grandma, and any other woman worthy of one. Do they really want a huge flower on their chest all day? Maybe some would...but I think they would look just as smashing without one.

Sure, I would love all these things if I had a huge budget, but the reality is, I don't. So what to do? I have put off contacting any florists because I think I will be able to do this myself. I might be crazy, but how hard can making a bouquet be? The answer is probably not that hard. But do I want to worry about making bouquets the night before my wedding? Not so sure about that either. The thing is, I think I would really enjoy making bouquets. I believe I am creative enough to undertake such a project, and with a little practice, I could nail it. On the other hand, I could end up with some really crappy bouquets and I will proceed to put my foot in my mouth. I'll think I'll try it out soon and update accordingly.


*All of these photos via The Knot.

nightmares part 3

In this episode, we were getting married at some sort of lake house that was very spread out and guests were sort of scattered everywhere...outside, down the road by the beach, in the house, etc. We had our ceremony, which was very unrehearsed and awkward and then I lost Jon in the crowd of people (remember, they were scattered everywhere). I didn't really notice it either until I got to this area where we were to take pictures and he was no where to be found. We waited around for a while, but eventually I got sick of waiting for him and was getting anxious because I wasn't enjoying spending a good deal of my wedding day sitting around and waiting. So I stomped back to the house down a muddy/dirt road, in my white dress and expensive shoes. When I got there, I scoured through the crowd of peeps trying to find him. It was like a scene out of a movie where someone is trying to make their way through a crowd and with every step, all you see is another body in their way. He finally appeared and I was relieved, but upset at the same time because he had just wasted a lot of time by disappearing. He also had already taken his jacket off, his hair was all messed up and he was kind of sweaty...and hello! We haven't taken any pictures yet! However, followed closely behind him, assumed to be a groomsman, was Vince Vaughn.

The End.

150 days

150 days until the wedding and what have we done:

• reception spot, photographer, dj, church, ceremony musicians, cake maker reserved
• invitations designed
• table numbers and escort card design decided (I think)
• dress and shoes bought
• centerpiece ideas narrowed down to a few ideas
• registered at 1 place
• decided on a rehearsal dinner place...must make the reservation
• blocked off hotel rooms at 3 hotels
• Once again got sucked into Big Brother. That show rules my life and I know it is dumb.

fonts

I have been a little hesitant posting actual things we will have at our wedding because there are people that read this blog that will be at the wedding and I would like the details that I have been working so hard on to be a surprise. I then realized that there are probably only a handful of people (that I know of) out of over 200 who read this and I needed to get over myself. So I decided that I could compromise. I will show things I am debating about, but not the finished product. Of course I will post things after the wedding, when the cat is out of the bag, but for now, I'll only be teasing...

Back to the fonts: A couple weekends ago I stumbled upon urbanfonts.com and dafont.com and I officially wasted away 2 days downloading free fonts. It was a little ridiculous, but I got some great ones that I knew could be contenders for our invitations and other paper products. We are hoping our wedding will have a classic, fun and laid back feel (duh. who doesn't?.), so we didn't want our invitations to be too formal. With that in mind, I wanted to find a calligraphy font, but not a real stuffy one. We narrowed our options down to 2 different font combinations...

We have made our final decision and I made up an mock invitation that we are super excited about. I had made one a while ago that we thought was definitely the one, but now that one seems so gross in comparison. I'm glad to have this done with plenty of time to get them printed and everything also. Having the design down for the invitations is also making everything else super easy to envision. The escort cards, programs, table numbers, etc seem to be obvious now that we have made this decison. I am having so much fun creating these things! I can't believe some people don't love this stuff and would rather pay someone to do it. I think I missed my calling.

inspiration board

I mentioned a while ago that I was trouble narrowing in on a vision for my wedding. Since then a very kind soul and fellow bride-to-be, by the name of Jessica, offered to be a sounding board of ideas. We've exchanged a few emails and it's been super fun. Talking with people in my everyday life is all well and good, but I don't want to bore people or become that girl who only talks about her wedding. So when Jessica offered to give her advice, I happily took her up on her offer. As some may know, inspiration boards are pretty common on various wedding blogs. I never thought someone would take the time for make one for little ole me, but Jessica did!


I love the button as escort cards idea! Like Jessica said in her email, "Isn't it interesting that people don't do nametags at weddings, when clearly it would help people tremendously!" So true! Buttons might be kind of hard/expensive to make (how much does a button maker go for these days??), but I like the design concept of having a simple dot on a card. I am also loving the idea of having greenery as centerpieces. It could look very lush and would cost very little. And a single truffle as a favor. Love it!

So, everyone go run over to Jessica's blog, Weddings Start to Finish and check it out. Be sure and read the story of how she met her fiance while you are there. Someone should write a movie about it. It's so great!

nightmares part 2

Last night I had another nightmare. I dreamt that after the ceremony, I realized that we never booked a honeymoon. So one of my bridesmaids and I went to my parent's house between the ceremony and reception to plan one. Then when we made it to the reception, none of the table settings/centerpieces were put out. Like the last one, I was upset, but not that upset. It is interesting that this is a recurring theme. Things that are just not done and I don't really care that much. I definitely notice them and am bummed, but I'm not throwing tantrums or anything.

The only thing I can deduce from this dream and past dreams is I need to get going. I don't want to be a frantic person trying to get things done the last week in July. The problem in this is that I am having a really hard time coming up with a definite vision for things. I have a ton of ideas, but I am having trouble narrowing in and focusing. Oh, woah is me.

registry #1

All I have to say is...top notch, Crate & Barrel. Top notch.

Sunday morning Jon and I woke up bright and early (for a Sunday) to go to Crate & Barrel to register. They have a brilliant idea...they open the store at 9am on select Sundays throughout the year specifically for people to register. We haven't registered anywhere else yet, but I am going to go out on a limb and assume having the store to yourself while doing this sort of thing is a huge plus. Not only was having the store to ourselves great, they also had mimosas, coffee and some breakfast treats for us when we got there. Then a salesperson gave us a short talk about the store, what people typically register for, etc. After that, we were off to scanning. C&B also do a great job pleasing their costumers while selling their products...they had salespeople making paninis with their panini maker. After sampling a panini, of course we put that baby on our registry...and somewhere the marketing execs at C&B patted themselved on the back. We also spotted another salesperson making waffles with their waffle makers, which we were not able to sample and also did not register for. If we did, we probably would have decided we needed to have it...because lets face it, we are an easy sell. They also had a knife expert on hand that helped us pick out some great knife sets. Jon was appointed scanner for this trip and he took advantage...scanning everything in sight...from a professional deep fryer to huge vases. Good times all around. Where will we put all this stuff once/if we get it...who knows? I wonder how we could put a house on our registry....

nightmares

I just read an entry on the Weddingbee about wedding nightmares and I had to share that I too have these nightmares, as I am sure every bride has. I know listening to other people's dreams isn't the most interesting thing, but I think I am going to start recording my dreams because I think they are funny and I know I will like looking back on them. So here it goes...

A while back I had one where the dj was playing horrible music and playing songs I specifically told them NOT to play. So I went up and yelled at them and angrily wrote down songs to play. Those songs were: Gold Digger...probably because I knew Gina would want to hear it...and Cry Me a River...because it's the best song ever probably.

Last night I had another nightmare where the reception was in this junky bowling alley type place with graffiti all over the walls. I was wearing a wedding dress, but it was very ill-fitting, so I put on some navy blue apron thing around my waist to cinch it so it would fit. I had also forgotten to prepare and set out everything I has worked really hard on: programs, table numbers, centerpieces, etc. and I was really upset. Not crying or anything, just kind of bummed. I remember I had a conversation with my mom and I was like, "I can't believe I forgot to bring all the programs and escort cards". At the end of the dream, I found Jon in the foyer of the "bowling alley" talking with someone that was supposed to be in our wedding and hadn't shown up until the very end of the night.

The End. See, I told you it wouldn't be interesting.

honeymoon ideas

Well, we found a dj. I now feel like the big, necessary vendors have been chosen. We now need a form of transportation and...a honeymoon! This has been pretty fun for me so far because I love planning trips. Even when I have no trip on the horizon, I like to go to tripadvisor.com or frommers.com and check out places I'd want to go and plan fake trips. Its great. For real, it is. For our honeymoon, we initially thought going to an all inclusive resort was the obvious choice. Neither of us have ever been to one and the relaxation, beach, cocktails, having nothing to do aspect of them was very appealing. The problem here lies in the date of our wedding: August 9th, the beginning of hurricane season. Now, normally I don't think this would worry me or concern me much. However, we got stuck in Florida a couple years ago during a hurricane and my friend's honeymoon got all messed up last year because of hurricanes. So basically, I just don't want to take our chances with anything southern and/or carribean. **tears streaming down my face** This has led me to some creative thinking and I have come up with some alternate plans. Our only requirements is that it is a place neither of us has been and will offer relaxation and ideally an ocean. So I bring you our options:

1. Central California: Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur

I have wanted to go to Big Sur ever since I saw that episode of Six Feet Under when Brenda and Nate get married on a cliff there. SO beautiful! I've done some extensive research on this area. All three of these cities, along with Pacific Beach and Pebble Beach are very close to one another and are usually visited in one trip when people vacation there. The area is very quaint and rich with artists, has a couple state parks and reserves, beaches, cute little boardwalks, restaurants, shops and beautiful scenery. We would stay in Monterey or Carmel, spend a couple days probably just lounging on the beach and relaxing. We'd have a couple nice dinners and we would take one day to travel to Big Sur spend the day checking it out (it's about a half hour away I think). Aside from these pics, I have seen plenty of peeps chillin on the beach also, which is probably what we would spend most of our time doing.

Pros: beautiful area, no weather issues to worry about.

Cons: Might not be the relaxing trip we are looking for if we end up seeing a lot of the sights.

Cannery Row - In Monterey (The ocean is right in the distance)

Carmel-by-the-Sea - cute paths right on the beach

Look how cute these little shops are in Carmel...I can't stand it!

A view of coastal Big Sur

2. Palm Springs

I know, I know, it will be HOT there in August (Avg high = 107, Avg low = 76). But!! I feel like as I read about it, it is like Vegas without all the craziness and contant stimulation. There are huge resorts with tons of pools and restaurants, like Vegas, which I love. There are outlet malls, golf courses, casinos, spas, etc. It is loaded with Hollywood history (love that stuff) and every Thursday night they have this thing alled Village Fest where there are musicians, food, arts and crafts vendors, and a Farmers Market. It kind of sounds like the sunset celebration on Mallory Square in Key West. ..and we loved that. This also happens to be the home of the Viceroy...the hotel where the most out of control coordinated wedding took place that I saw on theknot.

Pros: It will be the off season, so the rates are great. It will be the ultimate in relaxation. The closest to what an all inclusive would offer I think...without the ocean and the unlimited food and booze.

Cons: The weather. Not near an ocean.

You can take a tram ride through Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Coachella Valley, Mt San Jacinto's Chino Canyon, etc. I will note that these tram/ski lift things are my least favorite things in the world. I feel as though at any minute, it will fall off the cable and I will fall to my death. I will however, force myself to do this if we did the honeymoon here.

This is the Marriott resort, which I guess is the most expansive of the resorts (and yes, I mean expansive, not expensive)

3. SoCal - The O.C (Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach)

Not going to lie...MTV had a huge impact on this decison. Who is going to tell me that Laguna Beach and Newport Beach don't look adorable though?! Remember the views from LC's house?? Yes, it was awesome. Besides the slim chance I could run into a Laguna Beach High School alum, this area also has a lot of shops, restaurants, art galleries (not sure if I even really love art galleries though)and great beaches.

Pros: Great beaches. Quaint towns.

Cons: May involve a lot of driving, might not be very relaxing.

Laguna Beach

Newport Beach - another cute little beach town like Laguna, only Newport is part of the Balboa Penuinsula and close to Balboa Island and Catalina Island. Balboa Island is where the frozen banana stand was located on Arrested Development...and that is the only reason why I know of Balboa Island...and now I think I need to read more books. It is a hip and cool beach town with trendy cafes and surf shops. We could rent tandem bikes and take them for a spin. Oh! and good news! Summer is the best time to visit Newport Beach apparently. The beach crowd is relatively small because the peninsula is located somewhat off the beaten track. The car traffic is minimal also, which makes for great bike travel. Riding along the boardwalk is fun and a great way to check out some of the most expensive real estate in Southern California.

Catalina is described a quaint island escape in the Pacific, framed by crystal-clear waters, picturesque beaches and rolling foothills, boutiques, galleries, etc. The island can be toured by golf cart, which would also remind me of Key West.

Newport Beach

Balboa Island

Catalina Island

Huntington Beach is known as "surf city", it has a great beach with that famous Municipal pier that kind of reminds me of the Santa Monica pier. I am sure we would just spend the days here parked on the beach watching the surfers.

And another shot of the beach during a surfing competition...

So, what do you think? Been to any of these places? Recommend or not recommend any? Any suggestions I might not have thought of? I'd love some input.

so beautious

I really want to wear a fun pair of shoes with my wedding dress...no white pumps for this lady. I found these today on a website that said they were available on Piperlime. So I figured if they were on that website, they must be affordable and I had to have them....

...and then I saw the price. I think I actually said "oh good lord." Since when does Piperlime sell shoes this expensive?! I thought this was a Gap company.

Needless to say, the search will continue.

things are moving along

Wedding update.

The date is set for August 9, 2008. (08-09-08, I like the sound of it. Not as good at 08-08-08 would have been, but we didn't want to have a Friday wedding)

The church is reserved and we are meeting with the priest next month. We ended up going with St. Jude after getting rejected from a couple other places. I was sad for a second, but then decided that it will be sweet getting married at the place I grew up going to...and where Jon and I met! Yes, we met there at Gina and Todd's wedding rehearsal. It will be perfect.

We paid the deposit for the reception spot yesterday. I couldn't be happier with our location. Their prices are within our budget, the food is going to be delicious (Saz's, yum!), the location is great for both our Milwaukee and Madison guests and being on the golf course it is going to be beautiful.

I found a photographer. I think her pictures are stunning and she has great rates, which is great for our budget. I found her through this little blogosphere I lurk around in too!

Next on the agenda is a DJ...